To build a bridge for trade between Africa and Europe, Eni and Sonatrach of Algeria will research cooperative initiatives to increase the North African nation’s energy export potential, the Italian corporation announced on Monday.

The two energy corporations inked new agreements as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was in Algiers for the first time. While there, she met with Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Last year, Algeria replaced a sizable portion of Italy’s prior imports from Russia as the country’s top petrol supplier. To serve as a distribution centre for supplies between northern Europe and Africa in the upcoming years, Rome aims to significantly enhance its energy imports from Algeria.

In a joint press briefing with Tebboune, Meloni said: “Two agreements were signed between Eni and its Algerian counterpart, one to identify activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the other to achieve an increase in energy exports from Algeria to Italy and potentially from Algeria to Europe.”

She also mentioned expanding Algeria’s ability to generate liquefied natural gas and establishing an undersea power line between the two nations (LNG). For a new diplomatic initiative in Africa, Meloni has a “Mattei Plan” in which Algeria would play a crucial part.

According to Tebboune, “There will be a special pipeline that will involve hydrogen and electricity… this is a very important project that will make Italy a distributor of these energies for the whole of Europe.”

Eni, a state-controlled company, would use this strategy to capitalise on its extensive experience in Algeria, where it has been active since 1981.